I wonder if all the denominations & traditions are helpful in reading the Bible, but to really do so, they must all be left.
I’ve been reflecting lately on Gospel of Thomas 7:
Jesus says: “Blessed is the lion which a man eats so that the lion becomes a man. But cursed is the man whom a lion eats so that the man becomes a lion!”
I am not sure why this isn’t received as proof of reincarnation.
Indeed I wonder if the Jesus teachings aren’t opening up a possible, eventual ascension into the realm of deity. The stages of life a ladder that one can move up & down.
And the central means of becoming divine is related to texts and textuality—to learn to read in complex ways, to tell stories that are difficult, and see oneself as a word in a stream of words.